TOURNAMENT LINKS: TOURNAMENT WEBSITE (Schedule, Live Stats, etc) | GAME NOTES
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Golden Bears head to Denver for the Colorado Premier Challenge this weekend. They kick off the tournament with matches against Florida Southern at 1:00 p.m. and #16 Truman at 8:00 p.m. on Friday.
Concordia is making its eighth appearance at the Colorado Premier Challenge and holds a 26-6 record. The Golden Bears have claimed three first-place finishes, all three coming in the past five years (2008, 2010, 2011). They have also garnered three third-place finishes and one fourth with a tournament record 22 All-Tournament Team members.
Concordia opens up the tournament with a match against Florida Southern (3-1) at 1 p.m. CU is 2-0 all-time against the Mocs, beating them in straight sets both matches. The last time they faced off was in the 2011 Colorado Premier Challenge with the Golden Bears winning 25-15, 25-15, 25-19.
The Golden Bears' second matchup of the day features a ranked opponent in #15 Truman (3-1) at 8:00 p.m. This is the fifth meeting between these two schools, with the last coming in 2008 with Concordia sweeping the Bulldogs. Concordia has won the last three meetings with the only Truman win coming back in 2005 in a five set thriller in Duluth.
Saturday's schedule will be determined after the conclusion of Friday's matches and can be found on the tournament schedule.
Last weekend, Concordia (4-1) extended their regular season home win streak to 16 with straight set wins over #11 Colorado Mines (1-3) and Hillsdale (0-4) before dropping a four set match to #20 Wayne State (4-0). The Golden Bears bounced back to finish the tournament with 3-0 wins over #9 Indianapolis (1-3) and #21 Wingate (3-2). Coach
Brady Starkey improved to 344-31 at the helm for CU. Concordia is now 25-10 all-time against NSIC opponent Wayne State. After the weekend CU dropped to #4 in the rankings. The loss was the only loss for the Golden Bears in their home tournament in the last three years.
Freshman
Riley Hanson (Nevis, Minn.) finished her first weekend as a collegiate player with 47 kills, 2.94 per set, in the Golden Bears five matches. She hit an efficient .444 and added 17 total blocks, 1.06 per set. Hanson hit over .700 in two matches, hitting .706 against #11 Colorado Mines (12 kills) and .722 against #21 Wingate (14 kills).
Sophomore setter
Kasey Williams (Cross Plains, Wis.) also made her collegiate debut this past weekend. She started in place of injured All-American
Amanda Konetchy (Victoria, Minn. ) in the tournament and did not disappoint. In her first match as a Golden Bear she had 47 assists against #11 Colorado Mines. She had over 40 assists in four of the five matches and had 38 and 15 digs in the other match. She finished the weekend with 214 assists for an average of 13.38 per set and guided an offense that hit .325 as team.
Live stats and tournament schedules can be found in the links above.
